County offices to close Feb. 17 for pope visit

The County Courthouse at 500 E. San Antonio, the MDR Building at 800 E. Overland, El Paso County Tax Assessor Collector Office at 301 Manny Martinez, and all the county annexes throughout the county will be closed.

El Paso County offices will be closed during the pope's visit to Juárez on Feb. 17, and early voting at the courthouse will be suspended that day.

County Judge Veronica Escobar on Monday said she decided to shut down all county offices during Pope Francis’ visit to the borderland after discussions with the El Paso City-County Office of Emergency Management, area law enforcement agencies and the Texas Secretary of State’s office.

“I did a tremendous amount of due diligence before reaching this conclusion. I did not want to close. I felt very strongly that people need to have access to their public services regardless of what’s happening out in the world,” Escobar said. “But what made me reach my conclusion was the meetings I had with El Paso police and the office of emergency management, who shared with me the incredible challenge it would be for people to leave the courthouse.”

The El Paso County Courthouse at 500 E. San Antonio, the MDR Building at 800 E. Overland, El Paso County Tax Assessor Collector Office at 301 Manny Martinez, and all the county annexes throughout the county will be closed.

Escobar said the police department would have to provide additional officers to control traffic around the county courthouse parking garage if it were to remain open.

The entrance and exit of the courthouse employee parking garage is through Campbell Street, which is going to be shut down to traffic that day. Escobar said there are not enough parking spaces for all county employees and visitors on the surrounding streets, especially in light of all the street closures.

Police will be closing Campbell and Cotton streets to be utilized as emergency access routes to South-Central El Paso. The César Chávez Border Highway and several streets in the Segundo Barrio also will be closed.

In addition, there is still a possibly that Kansas Street – another access road to the courthouse – also may be closed. Kansas Street at San Antonio Street remains closed due to the streetcar project construction.

“If people can’t get to us or leave once they make it through to us, there is really no point in opening,” Escobar said.

Because of the county closures on Feb. 17, early voting at the courthouse will be suspended that day. The courthouse is one of many early voting sites in the county. Early voting for the March 1 primary will run Feb. 16-26.

Another early voting site that is going to be affected by the pope’s visit to the borderland is the El Paso Community College Rio Grande Campus. All EPCC campuses will be closed Feb. 17.

El Paso County is the latest entity in the area to announce closures on Feb. 17. The City of El Paso, the University of Texas at El Paso, EPCC and most school districts will be closed that day.